GUNTHER Officially Becomes Longest-Reigning Intercontinental Champion In WWE History

For over 35 years, the Honky Tonk Man's record-setting 454-day reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion, including 34 title defenses, remained intact. But nothing lasts forever — especially not in professional wrestling — and today, GUNTHER's stretch holding the Intercontinental Title officially reached 455 days, setting a new record as the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history. 

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque took a moment to acknowledge the moment for the reigning champion on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Defining his own legacy. And this is just the beginning ... Congratulations to GUNTHER on making history as the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion EVER."

History made. pic.twitter.com/DIifjDYTxJ

— WWE (@WWE) September 7, 2023

GUNTHER's reign began on June 10, 2022, when he defeated Ricochet on an episode of "WWE SmackDown." Since then, he has successfully defended the championship 15 separate times and counting. His final obstacle on the way to the record-breaking mark was Chad Gable. This past Monday on "WWE Raw," GUNTHER was able to turn away Gable's game challenge, earning the pinfall victory and securing his place in the WWE history books for the foreseeable future. 

But setting championship records is not a foreign concept to GUNTHER, as he's done this before — and already since joining WWE in 2019. He had previously held the "NXT UK" Championship for a record-setting 870 days after winning the title in April 2019, only losing it to career rival Ilya Dragunov in August 2021. That title would later be unified with the "NXT" Championship in September 2022.